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A federal judge denied a request for a new trial by two former Lackawanna County commissioners serving time for accepting bribes from companies that did business with the county.

In the 30-page ruling filed Thursday, Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo denied the motions filed on behalf of A.J. Munchak and Robert Cordaro.

Mr. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro argued that they were entitled to a new trial because there was newly discovered evidence. They also said that there had been false testimony at their trial, which prosecutors should have recognized.

A federal grand jury indicted Mr. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro in 2010. Both men were convicted in June 2011. ﻿A jury found Mr. Munchak guilty of bribery, conspiracy to commit extortion, income tax evasion and other charges. Mr. Cordaro was convicted of bribery, conspiracy to commit extortion, conspiracy to commit money laundering, racketeering and other charges.

Mr. Cordaro was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Mr. Munchak was sentenced to 7 years.

In previous filings, Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak asserted that the partners of Highland Associates gave false testimony at the trial.

The three partners testified they paid the former majority commissioners a collective $90,000 in 2005, because the county owed them about $1.3 million and they feared losing the contract.

At the trial, Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak denied requesting the money and accepting cash payments.

One of the partners, Donald Kalina, testified that the loss of the county contracts would cause the firm to lay off employees. The former commissioners wrote that Highland Associates had $23.8 million in revenue in 2005 and a $1.3 million loss would not have been detrimental in the way Mr. Kalina portrayed.

They also said the county only owed Highland Associates about $96,000.

Highland Associates had completed $1.3 million in work, but there were only about $96,000 in invoices at the time the bribes were alleged.

In his ruling, Judge Caputo wrote that the regardless of the amount owed at the time the partners paid the former commissioners, Highland Associates still performed a significant amount of work for the county. He wrote that the partners still paid Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak “out of fear that they would not be paid for work that had already been completed.”

Judge Caputo indicated that Mr. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro did not provide any evidence that “would probably have produced acquittal.”

The amount of money owed to Highland Associates would not have affected the jury’s decision that Mr. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro accepted cash payments.

Judge Caputo also denied Mr. Cordaro’s request for additional access to possible evidence, including the indictment of one witness and the potential investigation of another, which Judge Caputo called “a fishing ... expedition.”

Contact the writer: rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter

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